Forced Marriages Unit

Theresa May: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how many alleged incidents of forced marriage have been reported to the Government's Forced Marriages Unit in each year since its establishment.

Barbara Follett: The Forced Marriage Unit was established in 2005 as the Government's one stop shop for dealing with forced marriage casework, policy and projects.
	The Forced Marriage Unit receives 5,000 inquiries and handles approximately 300 cases a year. Subject to concerns about maintaining confidentiality, a new system to capture data on cases will be implemented next year.

Lesotho: Overseas Aid

Mike Gapes: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what representations he has received on the Lesotho Highlands Water project.

Gareth Thomas: The UK Government provided support to the Lesotho Highland Water programme in 1987 and to the Highland Water scheme (Phase I and II) and the Lesotho Delegation of the Highland Water Commission from 1999 to January 2005. Funding was mainly in the form of engineering technical assistance.
	There have been no other interventions by the UK, nor have we received any representations since then.

Railways: Repairs and Maintenance

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps she has taken to ascertain the reasons for the delay in the completion of works to the railway infrastructure near London Liverpool Street station over the Christmas and new year holiday period; and if she will make a statement.

Tom Harris: The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), as the Rail Industry's economic regulator, monitors Network Rail's stewardship of the national rail network. The ORR has launched an investigation into the cause of this over-run and expects to publish its findings by the end February. It would be inappropriate to make a statement before the report is published.

Communications Allowance

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Leader of the House pursuant to the answer of 18 December 2007,  Official Report, column 1225W, on the communications allowance, what the aggregated budgeted expenditure on the communications allowance is expected to be in 2007-08.

Helen Goodman: The communications allowances was introduced in April 2007 and set at £10,000 per annum for each hon. Member, with the possibility of adding money transferred from staffing and IEP. The maximum spend from the basic allowance in one year is therefore £6.46 million. The Members Estimate Committee, in its report on the communications allowance (HC 319, 2006-07) assumed similar take-up to the other allowances. As noted in the report, this equates to a likely total annual cost of the allowance of about £6 million. Currently spending on the communications allowance is running below this level.

Defence Analytical Services Agency: Forecasts

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library copies of  (a) the Defence and Analytical Services Agency's (DASA) monthly price index booklet,  (b) DASA's quarterly price index forecasts,  (c) DASA's quarterly foreign price index,  (d) DASA's negotiators' briefing pack issued in 2007 and  (e) the DASA electronic price indices query tool.

Derek Twigg: I will arrange for copies of the Monthly Price Indices booklet, Quarterly Foreign Price Indices booklet and the Negotiators Briefing Pack(s) published in 2007 to be placed in the Library of the House.
	I am withholding copies of the DASA Price Indices UK Quarterly Forecast as their release would, or would be likely to, prejudice commercial interests.
	Similarly, I am withholding the electronic price indices query tool as its release would, or would be likely to, prejudice commercial interests.

Warships

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of  (a) Royal Navy and  (b) Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships are in each readiness category, broken down by ship type.

Bob Ainsworth: I am withholding the information requested as its release would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness and security of the Armed Forces. My predecessor wrote to my hon. Friend the Member for New Forest, East (Dr. Lewis) on 6 March 2007 explaining in detail the Department's policy on releasing such information. A copy of his letter is available in the Library of the House.

Weapons: Testing

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what records his Department holds on  (a) the testing of weapons in space by other governments over the last 10 years,  (b) the volume of debris in low earth orbit which relates to such testing and  (c) the potential effects of such debris; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Ainsworth: We have no evidence suggesting that any state has conducted tests of space-based weapons in the past 10 years. China conducted a successful anti-satellite (ASAT) missile test against its own space asset on 11 January 2007, but the missile itself was ground launched and hence, not stationed in space. The UK has expressed its concern to China about the potential impact of the additional debris this ASAT test created.
	The British National Space Centre (BNSC) conducts regular assessments of the volume of space debris in orbit and the potential threat this poses to UK assets.

Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission: ICT

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the existing IT contract between his Department and EDS will be transferred to the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC); and whether it is open to CMEC to seek to renegotiate this contract.

James Plaskitt: The contract between the Department and EDS contains clauses that cover the possibility of future changes in our organisation. These clauses will be used to ensure that the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission will be able to continue to make use of EDS services in the same way that the Child Support Agency does now.
	It will be for the Commission to determine its future arrangements for the provision of IT services. Should the Commission wish to renegotiate the EDS contract, however, it would have to do so in conjunction with the Department as the contract is at a departmental level.

Christmas

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  whether it is his Department's policy to use  (a) incandescent light bulbs and  (b) LED lights for festive decorations on departmental premises;
	(2)  what his Department's policy is on the selection of  (a) real and  (b) artificial Christmas trees for his Department's festive decorations; and how real trees are disposed of.

Anne McGuire: It is not the policy of this Department to provide Christmas trees, incandescent light bulbs or LED lights for festive decorations on departmental premises.
	The vast majority of the Department's estate has been sold (freehold, feuhold and long leasehold interests) or transferred (short leasehold interests) to Land Securities Trillium via a PFI contract known as PRIME. DWP pays a unitary charge in return for fully serviced accommodation.

Employment Schemes: Lone Parents

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his Department's publication Ready for work, what forecast he has made of  (a) the likely number of work focused interviews which will be attended by lone parents in each quarter until 2011, broken down by (i) region, (ii) ethnicity and (iii) family size,  (b) the annual cost of providing such work focused interviews,  (c) the number of additional staff needed to provide such work focused interviews and  (d) the cost of such additional staff in each quarter until 2011.

Caroline Flint: The full information requested is not available. The Impact Assessment published alongside the publication "Ready for Work: full employment in our generation" presented our current estimates of the impact of the proposals on the number of lone parents on benefits and costs. Work is ongoing on detailed implementation plans.

Industrial Health and Safety

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many  (a) incidents and  (b) complaints were (i) reported to and (ii) investigated by the Health and Safety Executive in each of the last four years.

Anne McGuire: The information requested is as follows:
	 (a) The numbers of Incidents reported to HSE (i.e. those reportable under RIDDOR), and the number of these incidents which meet the Health and Safety Commission's (HSC) investigation selection criteria and which are investigated, in each of the last four years are as follows:
	
		
			   Al HSE Reportable RIDDOR Incidents  Numbers investigated meeting HSC's selection criteria 
			 2003-04 148,592 5,288 
			 2004-05 141,740 4,890 
			 2005-06 138,848 4,677 
			 2006-07 134,418 5,567 
		
	
	 (b) The numbers of complaints reported to HSE, and investigated, in each of the last four years are as follows:
	
		
			   Total number of complaints reported  Total number investigated( 1) 
			 2003-04 24,404 22,528 
			 2004-05 22,794 21,633 
			 2005-06 21,074 19,675 
			 2006-07 18,865 18,540 
			 A majority of complaints are investigated by Complaints Officers and not HSE Inspectors. Dependent on the seriousness of the nature of the complaint it may be referred to an inspector to investigate.

Industrial Health and Safety: Criminal Proceedings

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many  (a) enforcement notices have been served and  (b) prosecutions have been initiated by health and safety inspectors under health and safety at work legislation in each year since 2002-03.

Anne McGuire: The information requested is as follows:
	 (a) The total number of enforcement Notices issued by the HSE since 2002-03 are:
	
		
			   Total number of Notices issued 
			 2002-03 13,324 
			 2003-04 11,335 
			 2004-05 8,471 
			 2005-06 6,593 
			 2006-07 8,071 
			 2007-08(1) 3,885 
			 (1) Half year figures. 
		
	
	Figures up to and including 2006-07 are based on published HSE annual statistics, the 2006-07 is the provisional figure.
	The 2007-08 figure is the numbers issued in the first half of this year, and this is also a provisional figure.
	 (b) The total number of prosecutions initiated (i.e. specific charges laid) by HOUSE since 2002-03 are:
	
		
			   Total number of prosecutions initiated 
			 2002-03 1,659 
			 2003-04 1,720 
			 2004-05 1,320 
			 2005-06 1,056 
			 2006-07 1,141 
			 2007-08(1) 561 
			 (1) Half year figures. 
		
	
	Figures up to and including 2006-07 are based on published HSE annual statistics, the 2006-07 is the provisional figure.
	The 2007-08 figure is the number of specific charges laid before the courts in the first half of this year, and this is also a provisional figure.

Social Fund

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 6 December 2007,  Official Report, columns 1508-09W, on social fund, what definition his Department uses of serious risk to health and safety in relation to crisis loan applications.

James Plaskitt: holding answer 13 December 2007
	There is no specific definition.
	However the Social Fund Directions state that:
	"... a social fund payment may be awarded to assist an applicant to meet expenses (except those excluded by these directions)
	(a) in an emergency, or as a consequence of a disaster, provided that the provision of such assistance is the only means by which serious damage or serious risk to the health or safety of that person, or to a member of his family, may be prevented;"
	Therefore the applicant has to meet three requirements; the need must have arisen as a result of a disaster or emergency; it must constitute a serious risk to the health and well being of the applicant or a member of their family and there must be no other means of meeting the need.
	The decision maker will consider carefully the circumstances of the applicant and should interpret the phrase, "serious damage or serious risk to the health or safety of that person" and "in an emergency, or as a consequence of a disaster," in a broad common sense manner that includes consideration of both physical and mental health.

Social Fund

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of calls were connected to the Social Fund in the most recent period for which figures are available.

James Plaskitt: holding answer 17 December 2007
	The information requested is not available.

Social Security Benefits: EU Nationals

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 13 December 2007,  Official Report, column 68WS, on disability benefits (European Court of Justice), what legal advice his Department sought ahead of the European court of Justice's judgment; and at what cost.

Anne McGuire: In addition to legal consideration by internal legal advisers, Her Majesty's Government instructed external counsel to represent the United Kingdom in the proceedings before the European Court of Justice at a cost of approximately £19,000.

Floods: Warnings

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans he has to review the flood warning system operated by the Environment Agency, including the most appropriate form of warning given; and if he will introduce an opt-out system of flood warning registration.

Phil Woolas: I refer the hon. Member to Sir Michael Pitt's Interim Report on the 2007 floods, to which the Secretary of State for the Environment responded to on 17 December.

Home Energy Efficiency Scheme: Finance

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of the total costs of all Warm Front schemes were material costs in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Phil Woolas: Between 1 December 2006 and 30 November 2007, 25.58 per cent. of the total costs for the Warm Front Scheme were material costs.

Home Energy Efficiency Scheme: Finance

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in how many and what proportion of cases the cost of Warm Front work recommended exceeded the available grant  (a) in Bassetlaw and  (b) nationally in the latest period for which figures are available.

Phil Woolas: Since June 2005, 16.94 per cent. of households in England which received assistance through the Warm Front Scheme were asked to pay an excess contribution.
	Over the same period 22.33 per cent. of households in Bassetlaw which received Warm Front assistance were asked to pay an excess contribution.

Waste Disposal: Domestic Wastes

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many fixed penalties were issued for  (a) putting domestic rubbish in the wrong container,  (b) leaving domestic rubbish out on the wrong day and  (c) overfilling a wheelie bin with domestic rubbish in the last year for which figures are available.

Joan Ruddock: DEFRA does not hold the information requested. Data provided by each local authority in England includes details of the number of fixed penalty notices issued in respect of waste receptacle related offences generally. These figures are not broken down further into specific types of offence.
	Data for 2006-07 (the most recent available) are available from DEFRA's website.

Prison Service: Corruption

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many briefings have been presented to Ministers on the Tasker inquiry; what the date of each briefing was; how many pages were contained in each written briefing; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Eagle: My predecessor, the hon. Member for Bradford, South (Mr. Sutcliffe) received an oral briefing prior to a meeting with the hon. Member for North-West Norfolk (Mr. Bellingham) which included the Tasker enquiry. It has not been possible to establish the date. I received an oral briefing on 30 July 2007, covering parliamentary questions from the hon. Member about the enquiry.
	I and my predecessors have received numerous written background briefings accompanying draft parliamentary questions, but the high number of questions involved means that it would involve significant disproportionate cost to establish the number and length of these briefings.

Regional Development Agencies: South East Region

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment he has made of whether the South East Regional Development Agency offers value for money.

Stephen Timms: SEEDA's performance, like that of other RDAs, is assessed in a number of ways:
	Performance against targets: In all except three cases SEEDA has met or exceeded the thirty-four targets set over the last five years.
	Independent Performance Assessment: The NAO assessment last year found that SEEDA was performing strongly. This judgement was based on performance on: ambition; prioritisation; capacity; performance management; and achievement (report available on www.nao.org.uk.)
	Regional Economic Strategy: SEEDA's review of the Strategy in 2006 and subsequent development of the RES action plan has demonstrated its strengths in achieving wide regional backing for the Strategy and its delivery.
	Evaluation: SEEDA and other RDAs have a major programme of evaluation of the impact of their spending. Results from this will be available later this year.

Henderson Hospital: Closures

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had on the planned closure of the Henderson Hospital; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: The Secretary of State for Health, (Alan Johnson) has had no discussions with the local national health service regarding the proposed closure of the Henderson Hospital, as this is a matter for the local NHS.
	The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Care Services (Mr. Lewis) spoke to Peter Houghton, Chief Executive of South West London and St George's Mental Health National Health Service Trust by telephone regarding the Trust's proposals to close the Henderson Hospital on 17 December 2007.
	The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Care Services also met with clinicians from Henderson Hospital, the National Clinical Director for Mental Health, managers from South West London, and St. George's Mental Health National Health Service Trust, the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Mr. Burstow) and the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Tom Brake) on 8 January 2008 to discuss this issue.

Overseas Students

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills which 50  (a) universities and  (b) further education colleges have the highest numbers of non-European Union students registered for courses; and how many such students each has registered.

Bill Rammell: The information is as follows:
	  (a) The latest available information for universities is given in the following table. Figures for 2006/07 will be available in January 2008.
	
		
			  50 higher education institutions in England with the highest number of non-EU enrolments( 1) , academic year 2005/06 
			  Higher Education Institution  Non-EU enrolments 
			 The University of Manchester 5,195 
			 The University of Nottingham 4,830 
			 The University of Warwick 4,500 
			 The University of Oxford 4,195 
			 London School of Economics and Political Science 4,160 
			 Middlesex University 3,825 
			 London Metropolitan University 3,755 
			 The University of Cambridge 3,730 
			 University College London 3,535 
			 The University of Greenwich 3,235 
			 Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine 3,170 
			 The University of Leeds 3,075 
			 University of the Arts, London 2,980 
			 The University of Birmingham 2,955 
			 The University of Northumbria at Newcastle 2,925 
			 The University of Sheffield 2,790 
			 City University 2,740 
			 The University of Westminster 2,670 
			 University of Hertfordshire 2,600 
			 The University of Sunderland 2,455 
			 The University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne 2,360 
			 The University of Leicester 2,320 
			 King's College London 2,305 
			 Loughborough University 2,305 
			 Queen Mary and Westfield College 2,235 
			 The University of Southampton 2,130 
			 The University of Bath 2,085 
			 The University of Wolverhampton 2,040 
			 Oxford Brookes University 2,040 
			 London South Bank University 2,030 
			 The University of Bradford 1,985 
			 The University of East London 1,975 
			 The University of Bristol 1,960 
			 The University of Essex 1,940 
			 The University of Portsmouth 1,895 
			 University of Durham 1,890 
			 The University of York 1,830 
			 The University of Surrey 1,785 
			 Brunel University 1,725 
			 Kingston University 1,715 
			 Coventry University 1,670 
			 The University of Hull 1,645 
			 The University of Lancaster 1,635 
			 The University of Liverpool 1,610 
			 The Manchester Metropolitan University 1,580 
			 University of Bedfordshire 1,565 
			 Leeds Metropolitan University 1,555 
			 Sheffield Hallam University 1,490 
			 Royal Holloway and Bedford New College 1,470 
			 The University of Kent 1,460 
			   
			 Others 39,410 
			 Total 164,975 
			 (1) Figures cover postgraduate and undergraduate students on full-time and part-time courses.  Note: Figures are calculated on a snapshot basis as at the 1 December and have been rounded to the nearest 5.  Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). 
		
	
	 (b) Figures for students participating on further education courses funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) can be derived from the LSC individualised learner record (ILR). The following table shows for 2005/06, the latest year for which full year data are available, the 26 providers delivering LSC funded further education courses with the highest numbers of non-UK students, broken down by whether the students are from the European Union or not. Figures on numbers of non-EU students at providers other than these ones are not readily available.
	
		
			  Providers delivering LSC funded further education courses  EU  Non-EU  Total non-UK 
			 Cambridge Regional College 272 2,518 2,790 
			 Chichester College 1,350 704 2,054 
			 Newcastle College 193 1,353 1,546 
			 Central Sussex College 1,242 299 1,541 
			 Kent County Council 890 599 1,489 
			 South Tyneside College 148 1,305 1,453 
			 Boston College 1,148 220 1,368 
			 Workers' Educational Association 531 819 1,350 
			 Sussex Downs College 628 615 1,243 
			 Gloucestershire College of Arts and Technology 708 392 1,100 
			 Guildford College of Further and Higher Education 553 473 1,026 
			 Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College 507 508 1,015 
			 Brooklands College 671 341 1,012 
			 Croydon London Borough Council 685 326 1,011 
			 Blackpool and the Fylde College 222 755 977 
			 Barnfield College 408 557 965 
			 Richmond Adult Community College 762 202 964 
			 Sheffield College, The 717 235 952 
			 Tresham Institute of Further and Higher Education 804 119 923 
			 West Cheshire College 830 85 915 
			 Liverpool Community College 197 700 897 
			 Bradford College 121 723 844 
			 City College Manchester 48 782 830 
			 The City Literary Institute 679 151 830 
			 Solihull College 574 235 809 
			 Morley College 665 236 801 
			  Source: ILR July 2006.